Your Question

Can a boy born with partial androgen insensitivity syndrome still have kids or are they always infertile?

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Are all males with partial androgen insensitivity syndrome infertile?

Men with partial androgen insensitivity syndrome (PAIS) are typically infertile, despite undergoing androgen therapy. However, although rare, there have been reported cases of fertile men with mild forms of PAIS and slightly impaired androgen receptor (AR) activity. In these cases, the external genitalia have usually been normal or very mildly affected.[1][2]

There has also been a recently reported case of a man with PAIS having high-dose, prolonged testosterone therapy which resulted in significant improvement in sperm count and characteristics. In combination with an assisted reproductive technique called intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), this treatment resulted in fertility in the affected individual.[3]

Last updated: 10/16/2013

References

J Chu, et al. Male fertility is compatible with an Arg(840)Cys substitution in the AR in a large Chinese family affected with divergent phenotypes of AR insensitivity syndrome. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. January 2002; 87(1):347-351.